Adaptation of health care seeking behavior during childbirth: Focus group discussions with women living in the suburban areas of Luanda, Angola
2004 (English)In: Health Care for Women International, ISSN 0739-9332, E-ISSN 1096-4665, Vol. 25, no 3, p. 255-280Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
The aim of this study was to explore how various factors influenced women's decisions regarding place of confinement in Luanda, Angola. Ten focus group discussions were conducted with pregnant and nonpregnant women residing in suburban areas of Luanda and the data were analyzed using the grounded theory technique. Four patterns of action of the main theme, "the molding of women'scare-seeking behavior during childbirth," were identified: (I) the "labor process 'on-course' avoiding pattern"; (II) the "labor process 'off-course' avoiding pattern"; (III) the "labor process 'on-course' approaching pattern"; and (IV) the "labor process 'off-course' approaching pattern." Our findings indicate that personal "courage" and social support empowered women and impacted on their preference for home birth, whereas demand for informal user fees and perceived low quality of care influenced women to avoid institutional care during childbirth, sometimes even in spite ofcomplications. Ability to meet demands for informal user fees and knowledge of childbirth influenced women to seek institutional care. The study highlights the need to improve the quality of available maternal health care addressing the implicit educational, attitudinal, and ethical issues.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
New York, NY: Taylor & Francis Group, 2004. Vol. 25, no 3, p. 255-280
Keywords [en]
Adult, Angola, Decision Making, Delivery, Obstetric, Female, Focus Groups, Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice, Humans, Labor: Obstetric, Patient Acceptance of Health Care, Pregnancy, Suburban Population, Women
National Category
Gynaecology, Obstetrics and Reproductive Medicine
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:hh:diva-514DOI: 10.1080/07399330490272750PubMedID: 15195770Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-1542475459Local ID: 2082/855OAI: oai:DiVA.org:hh-514DiVA, id: diva2:237693
Note
Corrected author affiliations in: (2004) ERRATA, Health Care for Women International, 25:4, 388-388, DOI: 10.1080/07399330490448331
2007-02-142007-02-142025-02-11Bibliographically approved
In thesis